Chapter 9

"Nitan, the meal was delicious, wasn't it?"

"The meat was plentiful and delicious, wasn't it?"

"Yeah!"

While taking a bath, Alice and I started talking about dinner.

Before the sun set, the Forest Wolves that were hunted were distributed as meat, and they appeared in our dinner as stew.

When I say "plenty of meat," it's not like the big chunks of meat that Japanese people imagine; it's more like small pieces of meat smaller than a bite.

Still, fresh meat is quite a rare thing in this place. Usually, we can only get salted meat from the occasional traveling merchant, which is also very precious.

When I saw the Forest Wolves again, they were much larger than I had imagined, and I felt like I could be swallowed whole.

If five of them appeared, we would have to evacuate. It's scary not only when they come in a group but also when they attack the village separately, which could result in casualties, making me shiver.

If Forest Wolves start appearing frequently, we won't be able to continue developing the area.

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"Today, Dad and the others were amazing, you know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, like this."

As I said that, I used water magic.

Thanks to recent practice and the ability to set parts, I can now create and animate pixel art. Today, I decided to show Alice the brave figures of Dad and the others.

Dad has blonde hair, and the other members mostly have chestnut hair, so I thought I'd make everyone chestnut-haired to make Dad stand out.

I wondered if I could change the color of the water magic by altering the refraction, reflection, and absorption of light, and it turned out to be easy. I think this was only possible because I can set parts, but I'm not sure when I became able to do it since I didn't try it actively.

So, as usual, I used the edge of the bathtub as the ground and created a pixel art version of Dad, a blonde character, and nine chestnut-haired companions, inspired by a certain plumber's mushroom-collecting game.

"What's this? What's this, amazing, Nitan!"

"Isn't it great? I worked hard because I thought Alice would be happy."

"Nitan!!"

Alice, moved, hugged me, causing a big wave in the bathtub, but her eyes were fixed on the pixel art.

"This blonde one is Dad, and these are Dad's friends."

I made the pixel Dad do the double biceps pose, which is the pose Dad often strikes to show off his muscles.

Alice likes to hang on to him, so this is the image of Dad.

"Dad!"

I nodded to Alice, and she tilted her head.

"What's wrong?"

"Where's Nitan's Dad?"

Alice is talking about Roger, the father of Lenaer.

"Oh, right. I forgot. Alice, you're observant."

"Hehe."

Alice puffed out her chest and struck a "I'm great" pose, so I patted her head and changed the leader of the pixel companions to silver hair.

Then, I created a fence and five Forest Wolves in pixel art, arranging them in a side-scrolling style in front of the pixel Dad and companions.

I told Alice that the Forest Wolves were just big dogs, but since dogs in the nursery rhymes she knows are usually friendly, I made them all black with red eyes and spiky to make them look evil.

"These are the bad dogs."

"...Woof, scary."

"Yes, today, these scary and bad dogs appeared."

I slowly moved the Forest Wolves forward.

"Nitan, scary."

"But look, Alice."

When pixel Dad raised his arm, the pixel companions drew their bows.

The pixel wolves slowly moved forward, and the first one approached the fence. As soon as pixel Dad lowered his arm, the companions fired their arrows, and ten arrows rained down on the wolf near the fence, shattering its pixel form.

"Dad and the others defeated it, but there are still many left."

The remaining pixel wolves, with one of their companions killed, increased their speed and jumped over the fence.

"Dangerous!"

They were met with arrows, and one was defeated, but the other three crossed the fence.

More arrows were fired at the approaching pixel wolves, and another one was killed.

However, the remaining two quickly dodged the arrows and approached pixel Dad and the others.

"!!"

Alice watched the scene, unable to speak.

At that moment, pixel Dad made a whistling sound with wind magic and pointed at the leading wolf, signaling a concentrated attack.

The pixel companions changed their movements, and arrows concentrated on one wolf. Finally, they managed to defeat it.

But, in that moment of relief, the other wolf dashed forward and attacked the leading pixel Dad.

"No!" I put my hand around Alice's waist to stop her from moving forward.

Just as the pixel wolf was about to bite, pixel Dad kicked it.

The pixel wolf was sent flying backward, and pixel Dad jumped into the air.

In mid-air, pixel Dad created a large rock (using water magic) and threw it at the pixel wolf.

The large rock hit the pixel wolf and exploded, finally defeating the pixel wolves.

"Dad, amazing. He finished it with a big bang."

"Thus, peace returned to the village. And they all lived happily ever after."

"Happily ever after! Happily ever after!"

She clapped her small hands enthusiastically.

◇◇◇◇

This time, I didn't actually see it, so I made it based on my general guess.

I made everyone carry bows for visual effect, and they said it was easy, so they probably didn't get into such a tight spot. But before I went to the village, Dad's plan was to use earth magic for the final attack, as the priest said.

I might have added a bit of flair at the end, but I think it's mostly accurate.

"Dad, amazing!"

"Yeah, Dad is amazing."

"Nitan's Dad was in danger."

"Dad saved him."

"Yeah, and the final big bang, can I see it?"

"Sure, I think Dad will show it to you."

While expressing everything with her whole body, Alice kept talking about how interesting it was. I was a bit dazed from the mental fatigue of controlling the magic and the satisfaction in my heart, but I think I managed to respond properly.

Oh, I just remembered.

After the first time I did the stick puppet show, Mom told me that Alice was too excited and had trouble falling asleep, so I should keep it moderate.

"So, you know, Nitan."

Sorry, Mom, it's too late now.